The Lord of the Strings: A Footblog of Nathan

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

style looks good young'n. especially liked the mid run bubba beater and the blurriest. very smooth.

tell your homie to cushion his clippers more and stop landing on his heel


keep it up nate!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

...and then I was like "whoa."

[Nathan8]

Vojta: Yeah... I know the endings of my barflys and blurriests are a bit rough. I don't land on my toes and I'm not exactly balanced either. They need some work.

Kevin: Thanks, and I told him he should cushion his clippers more. I sent him on his homeworky way with inside stalls, hoping it would help him cushion his clippers better.

Nick: Hi. And thanks.

Today I wanted to do 100 butterlies. Nope. I mean, kinda nope. I did 54. What I learned is that I know how to do butterflies and I can keep my focus on them, but I don't have the stamina for 100. Once I got to 50 my legs were shaky and my crank just gave out thus ending the butterflies. Yay I can do butterflies, boo I'm out of shape. At this point I'm not sure if pushing for 100 would help my game or not. I'm guessing it would, but if anyone can weigh in on this one. that would be great.

Highlights:
Butterfly x54
Flip Rev. Swirl x4
Rev. Swirl x7
This highlight does't exist, but it almost did.

Before I updated my blog I browsed Paul's blog. I didn't know he was working on infinities too. I watched the video where he kept hitting 9 and I was so happy when hit 11. Great video, relatable video.

[Lycanthrope]

I would suggest adding running to your training arsenal if you are concerned about endurance. I know it doesnt equate to exactly footbag stamina, but it is close, and it has worked for others.

Nice job on butter x54. Its hard to focus that far in consecs.

[Derek]

You are so dang good, hope that you know that. And, you are forming a posse of players? Props all around. I'll get that address from ya when I make your baggy. Glad you took the offer, and it STILL stands, but now the video has to be longer than the previous

[Nathan8]

Evan: Thanks, and I have run for footbag before. Actually... I kinda just stopped that without noticing. Huh. But I know I am not in the shape I could be in because I know what it feels like to be in shape. By the end of a track season I feel much better than I do now. Now I kinda just feel sloowww.

Derek: Yeess. Footbags rock. Thanks man, can't wait to kick it. Maybe I'll make a video with it exclusively ☺

[Nathan8]

Yesterday I played around with some hopovers, symp whirls, and flappers outside of strip mall while my brother and sister did some artwork inside. Then later that night I had a session that lasted from 9:30 pm to 1 am. I took a 20 minute break and a 10 minute break to watch some stand up comedy .

The inspiration for this session came from an odd scenario. The day before I was talking to Derek Littlefield. I told him I was averaging 6-8 repeats on the ss butter>ripwalk drill, as in 24-32 contacts. I did not mean "repeats." I really meant ss butter>ripwalk x6-8, which would be 12-16 contacts. Derek seemed impressed when I told him I could do 6-8 repeats. It wasn't until a while later I realized my mistake. So I had two options: tell Derek I was wrong and disappoint him, or or make it the truth and do 6-8 repeats. I chose the second option. It certainty wasn't easy, as I really was only averaging half of 24-32 contacts. I worked my way up to 22 contacts, then later I hit 20 contacts (I would have had it had I not run into a table), and finally I made it into the target range with 26 contacts. I took a while, but it wasn't like trying to hit a 2 trick combo for hours where it just comes down to luck in the end. Here I was slowing working towards a goal. This wasn't the only thing I did during my session, but it was the focus.

26 contacts of ss butter>ripwalk
ducking butter>sidewalk rpt
pixie ss osis>stepping ss legover rpt
spinning butter>blurry whirl

Sorry about the confusion Derek, but now it's kinda true. I don't average it, but I hit it.

[Nathan8]

Saturday I had a session with Matt, Zach, Ivan, Nick, and Ryan. It was great to see them all again. Earlier that afternoon I got home from an exhausting week at summer camp. Every morning we got up at 5:45 and jumped in the pool. When I got home I was excited for the sesh but found myself yawning during it. I got pretty tired pretty quickly. Here are some highlights anyway.

7 unique steps ending in blurry whirl
a dense, decently long shuffle string
midstring ps whirl

I planned it out in my head and I think I can hit stepping gold.

As for today, I really wanted to film, but I went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord for lunch and slept until 6:15. Not gonna happen.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

As for today, I really wanted to film, but I went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord for lunch and slept until 6:15. Not gonna happen.

Shady Maple is always a good excuse for not doing something that you were going to do. Remind me to tell you a funny story about Shady Maple next time we kick. Speaking of which, let's kick soon. I'm gonna take off tomorrow, because my legs are dead, but lets shoot for some day this week. I'll drive up to your area this time.

You were really impressive on Saturday. Your game has definitely gotten better since I last saw you.

[Nathan8]

There have been 3 or 4 times where I should have blogged since I last blogged. So here it goes.

Dude, Jim Penske for President.

Penkse's performance at USO was top notch. His circle contest strings were so solid, such works of art. He has clearly been training hard. And then his routine. Tomahawk? Ending on spinning whirl>scorpions tail? Very nice. I was thinking that Evan had the title in the bag, but the competition is growing. Penske swept USO and Vasek swept Euros. Vasek still has it, and man is he using it. I think I will do a full World's prediction write up sometime.

I finished my worlds video, woohoo! I emailed Asmus about whether he wanted it July 31st on June 1st and he said as long as he has by the weekend. Cool guy I got some cool extra clips because of it. It didn't turn out as cool as I expected, but that's simply because I didn't put as much time into it as I expected. I got some highlights in it, and crappy strings as usual, so it's nothing new.

Overall my game has been getting stronger. I have been playing a lot and thus improving a lot. I feel like I have a lot of growth potential in the coming months. All because I have been playing a lot, playing hard, and my legs feel great. Maybe my body is becoming use to footbag. Whatever it is, I like it.

Carter is getting pretty hooked on footbag, which is awesome! He is most passionate student yet.

[carter24449]

Thanks Nathan. it means a lot for you to notice my constant effort and passion. Footbagging is getting hard core, My Lavers started splitting on the bottom sole. Looking forward to the next session we have.

[Nathan8]

Carter: Our next sesh will be epic.

Well folks, if you're here for footbag, you won't find any today. This will be a cool life post.

I was at the beach for the past few days. My family stayed at a campground on the bay. We spent one night on the boardwalk, and naturally, I spent it footbagging. I introduced myself to the main performer on the boardwalk. His name is Dan and he does various magic tricks, fits his body through a tennis racket, and gets out of a straitjacket while balancing on a board on a cylinder. He shared his spot with me for the night and we took turns performing. He is 20, and performing is his job. I learned a lot about how to work a crowd that night. First I performed, then he performed, then we talked. He told me what keeps him going is God's promise. He then showed me a tattoo on his arm. It was a verse from Proverbs. He then took his Bible out from his box of performance gear. He sat down on the box and started to look something up. I walked over to my bag about 10 ft away to get a drink. I came back, sat down next to him, and told him that my favorite verse comes from Proverbs (Proverbs 3:4-6), and I recited it. He kind of froze at that point. Then he drug his finger down the page he was on and read back to me the exact verse I recited to him, word for word. Then he just stared off into the distance for a moment. That verse I recited was exactly the verse he was searching for, he wanted to show me it. Of all the verses in the Bible, I just recited to him the one he was trying to find and show me. It's not even a really popular one like John 3:16, I found it on my own years ago. At that point, we determined the Holy Spirit was definitely there on the boardwalk that night and we went on to have a deep conversation about our interpretations of the verses and other things. It was just the two of us, locked in conversation about the Lord, sitting on a box watching crowds of people storm by on the boardwalk at 9 pm.

This morning I woke up to do a timelapse of the sunrise on the bay. It had massive potential... but it was cloudy. I still enjoyed it though. I rode my bike through the campground at 5:30 am and all was silent and still. I walked out on the pier in the early morning light all alone. It wasn't until around 6 that a lone fisherman joined me on the pier. I really enjoy nature time lapses, so this was my attempt at one. Ivan got me into them. Enjoy in 4K

[youtube]http://youtu.be/c9AAD-QZuu4[/youtube]



I took this photo with my phone in an attempt to capture the atmosphere.

[Nathan8]

Today's session was a good one. I am breaking new Lavers and while the first session was rough, this was my second one and it was pretty good.

Highlights:

Pdx Whirl x3 Deeper than ever
Barfly x3 More controlled than ever
Strong, dense string

The embarrassing highlights. I should have done these a while ago. I did clear my conscience on these today.

Flip PS Whirl Should have done a loong time ago
Flip Pdx Torque Turns out I just had to figure out my balance
Flip Spinning Whirl
Flip Scorpion's Tail I hit this strongside fairly recently.

Evan is always writing about his diet in his blog and he inspired me to start the "Bonslaver Food Revolution." My family eats healthy, home cooked meals each day. I eat heathly, but not like an athlete. So after the pool today we stopped at the grocery store and filled our cart. 75% was fruits and vegetables. I'm eating a plum at the moment. But I probably won't be when you are reading this. Anyway, it is something I wanted to try out. I also am going to eat more. I ate dinner, trained for an hour, and felt like I could eat another dinner. Plus my mom tells me I should eat more because I am a "growing boy." Hmm... But eating like an athlete will mean I have to cut back on my Cheez-It intake. The things I do for footbag.

[Nathan8]

Quick post.

Today I played for around 5 hours, a lot of it was work on my routine, but not all. I have been working on my routine for East Coasts for around 3 days now. Mostly today. I have the first 45 seconds done and I did it dropless today. It felt good, but it's not even halfway there. And the hard stuff will start at the 46 second mark Making this routine has me super excited about footbag. I want to put A LOT of time into it and ideally PERFECT it. I have 2 months.

[Nathan8]

I played a lot today, I don't how long, but it was 12:30 am by the time I finished. Afterwards I was as sweaty as can be. I grabbed an apple and walked upstairs. I stood in the cold shower soaking up cold water while eating my apple. Life is good. Double pickups felt soooo good today. So good. I was trying them out of all kinds of tricks. I only see it from a first person pov, so I don't what looks coolest into double pickup, but I think it was barfly. Now I am eating Ritz crackers and I'm going to go to bed. I have nothing to do tomorrow. #footbag

[Add Block]

Barrage > Double Pickup repeat looks fine

Or Pixie Double Pickup b2b

[Matt K]

I stood in the cold shower soaking up cold water while eating my apple.

Just want to highlight that this happened.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Was it a Big Apple or a Little Apple?

Sent from my C6916 using Tapatalk

[C-Fan]

Considering it was during a cold shower, I think the safe guess is that it was a little apple.

[Nathan8]

My footblog doesn't usually get replies, but then I mention that I ate an apple while taking a cold shower and bam! Am I missing an apple joke? Anyway, to whom it may concern, I ate another apple in a cold shower after my session today. It was a normal strings session, trying to put things together. I ended on something cool, but I honestly can't remember what it was. Must not have been that cool.

Vojta: Both of those are out of my league. I should have specified that most, if not all double pickups I am throwing in strings are clipper near double pickups. From op toe is much harder. But I do agree with those two ideas. Did Gatesman pixie double pickup b2b in his UYET video? I will have to check.